Following a recent UFC 128 win over Dan Miller, Marqaurdt first hinted at the drop from 185 pounds to 170 pounds. A former
middleweight King of Pancrase and one-time UFC title challenger,
Marquardt had mixed results in recent bouts with a 2-2 mark in his
past four outings.

Johnson, meanwhile, represents one of the division’s bigger athletes.
“Rumble” returned to action in March after a 16-month injury layoff and
outwrestled Dan Hardy en route to a unanimous-decision win. He’s now 4-1 over his past five fights, and the lone loss came to perennial contender Josh Kocheck in a “Fight of the Night” performance.

The Latest

In this week’s Trading Shots, Danny Downes and Ben Fowlkes look at Ronda Rousey’s 34-second victory over Bethe Correia at UFC 190 and try to put it into terms that capture the moment without getting swept away by it.

A total of 26 fighters got their chance to shine on Saturday as part of UFC 190 at Rio de Janeiro’s HSBC Arena. Now that UFC 190 is in the books, it’s time to commence MMAjunkie’s “Three Stars” ceremony.

The man known for cranking submissions to the point of injury added eye-gouging to his repertoire. But is the controversy of Rousimar Palhares too essential to his bizarre, awful appeal for his employers to take any meaningful action against him?